“City Girl” born to farm

My sister, Cathy Cooke, always wanted to be a farmer. Not just marry a farmer. As it turns out, she did both.

With her only farming exposure being a few early childhood visits to relatives’ farms, Cathy left an elite Perth private school during year 11 to board at Narrogin Agricultural College (where as one of four females in a year of 50, she was awarded the top marks for killing and skinning a sheep). She went on to complete a Bachelor of Business in Agriculture at Muresk (Curtin University).

Working in agriculture in 1996, she met and later married Peter, a truckie, who shared her dream of farming. They hatched a plan to lease a farm near where he was working in 1997. What a life changing decision that was!

The following year, they purchased 800 ha. at Cleary(in the north of WA’s Central Wheatbelt), and, still running their trucking business to finance their farming, gradually expanded, leasing and purchasing more, and eventually relocating further west to Mollerin. Today, they farm a 12000 ha. mixed farming enterprise, cropping 7500ha, running 2500 merino ewes producing prime lambs and 25 red angus cows (just for fun). Cathy is an equal partner and involved with every aspect of their business, often taking the reins while Peter was in the truck. She is responsible for all the property’s finances and loves driving the header, tractor and everything hands-on.

On top of that, she has supplemented their income in tight years by working off the farm within the agriculture industry.

She is an enthusiastic member of the ag community, currently sitting on the GRDC’s Regional Cropping Solutions Network for Kwinana East. She previously attended an Australian Wheat Board Women’s Conference and Young Leaders’ Conferences in Melbourne.

About her success Cathy says:

“My dream to be a farmer wasn’t the easiest occupation to pursue without a farming background. I am so fortunate to have had amazing support from my family.

“People call me lucky. I agree that I am — very — but, funnily enough, the harder we work, the luckier we get. We miss many special events due to our life style — there is always something to do on the farm and often things need to be done ASAP. But farming is an incredibly rewarding career and I’m so lucky to have found something I’m so passionate about.

“I still feel amused when I put my occupation on a form as ‘Farmer’, to have a gentleman peer over his glasses and comment, ‘farmer’s wife’ ? … the stereotypes still exist.”

How would I describe Cathy?

Intelligent,

Brave,

Capable,

Determined,

Keen to learn,

Strong (physically and mentally),

Stoic when those inevitable droughts threaten that year’s livelihood or if a much-loved sheep dog, horse, cow or chook meets unavoidable misfortune,

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Comments

Ryan Smith

Absolutely. Cathy is a beautiful person with a wealth of information about the land and farming. We love sharing time with her and her lovely family to learn about rural life. I have never met a more loving and caring family. Great job Cath

Catherine Maughan

Well done Cathy on making those dreams a reality. So glad to hear that you're still chasing those dreams, 20+ years after we finished at Muresk

Jane Packard (nee Laird)

Cathy was still at Muresk when I went through. I thought she was amazing then - and I admire her now. She's a great leader in our industry and I wish her all the best for a good crop this year :-)

Anne Sawyer

Fantastic friend and neighbour always willing to help those in need.

fatima

Thank-you for sharing your story.I have a request.
How do I communicate with you?

Chrstine Hird

Cathy is so lucky that her hard work has paid off and that she has a fabulous sister to write about her.
Living in the city we don't always realize the amount of hard work that goes into farming. Also having to send the kids to boarding school so that you miss so much of their growing up.

Louise Allan

Beautiful story, Jacquie, about an amazing and resilient woman. The farming life is not an easy one.

Tonya Hammond

Jacquie Garton-Smith

Megan McCracken

Helena Holton

What a lovely tribute to an amazing woman. Great project to create awareness of the "invisible" farmers and their contribution to agriculture and their communities.

marlish glorie

I take my hat off to your remarkable sister, Jacquie! For someone from a non-farming background to farm successfully in a fairly remote part of Western Australia , is an amazing feat, and you've done Cathy proud with this wonderful post on her.